Mini DVR 808 Micro Camera #16 V2-D HD

[teslahed]

I';ve just tested my new mini spycam. It';s sold as a ';Mini DVR 808 Micro Camera #16 V2-D HD';. The V2 has video out unlike the V1 so it can be used for FPV and the ';D'; refers to the lense type. It has a protruding fish eye lense. You can also buy the camera in a non fish eye version but the fish eye lense is better if you want to try and use it for FPV.



There are lots of places that sell them, including quite a few places that will try and rip you of with an older version that might not record in 720p HD resolution. Two recommended ebay sellers are;

http://myworld.ebay.com/eletoponline365 (i used this one)
http://stores.ebay.com/digitalele889?_rdc=1

I paid £28.68 for mine which seems like a bargain considering the quality. It';s no gopro but it weighs a lot less, it';s tiny and if you do crash your quadcopter you wont be crying quite so much as when you destroy £200 of camera equipment as well.

There';s an informative rcgroups thread here;
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1556994

And a website with a bunch of useful third party software hacks to further increase functionality here;
http://www.chucklohr.com/808/C16/index.html#111126C16

the second link is especially worthwhile, there are a lot of settings you can tweak compared to most cheap mini cameras.

In the future i intend to use this as my main FPV camera in conjunction with a cheap and fairly light transmitter to get a smallish quadcopter flying FPV to practice with. The lightness and wide angle lense should make it ideal for this.

Here is an example of the video quality i was able to get on the first test flight;

http://youtu.be/C5g6dcm7v84

This was recorded about 30 mins before sunset on a gloomy day. I think the quality is quite impressive considering, although i imagine the camera will struggle with lower light conditions than this.

[scotty40]

Very nice... And very nice price too :)

[Biffa]

I am very impressed. I have seen footage from this particular camera before, but not as good as this

Have you tried it for FPV yet - little feedback required and the misses want to know where you live cos the buildings are lovely!

[mickyt]

That';s a plush ol area you live in nice and clean plenty of room to fly as well 

[teslahed]

No FPV yet - but it';s being planned. Hopefully the next few days or so, if i can get my mini quadcopter to lift the weight of the transmitter i currently own.

[teslahed]

I';m currently working on getting this camera outputting video for FPV. It wasn';t working until i looked at this config tool;

http://www.mytempfiles.info/nr16/index.html

which appears to allow me to turn the TV output on. It wasn';t set to ';on'; by default. Without the config tool it looks to be impossible to use for FPV - quite frustrating until i thought to give the software a try.

[teslahed]

I will be testing this outside shortly;









The FPV gear adds about 75 grams to the quadcopter - total weight now 425 grams. I doubt it will be quite so sporty but i';m betting it still flies ok. I will probably have to re-tune the PIDs as the centre of gravity has gone up a bit.

[teslahed]

http://youtu.be/oidzU5AACgY

It was all going so well

Here is the same video only transmitted and received on the laptop;

http://youtu.be/Sj0QgdI8qAI

[teslahed]

[teslahed]

Well it';s all fixable - i think. But i need to buy some more nylon spacers as the old ones have sheared of. Which probably saved the more expensive stuff, but i can';t afford any until wednesday so it will be a little while before this quadcopter flies again.

If anyone knows a cheap source of 10mm M3 Nylon Male / Female hex spacers, i would be very interested to hear about it.

[felixrising]

I bought a whole collection of different spacers from goodluckbuy.com. Hobbyking sells them too. I think they should be cheaper and there must be other sources, but I haven';t found them yet.

http://www.goodluckbuy.com/m3-6-10mm-plastic-nylon-pillar-hex-spacer-male-female-20pcs.html
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__124__58__Hardware_accessories_-Screws_Bolts_Nuts.html

There are actually a lot of different nylon hex pilars listed on glb, but their search function is more about serendipity than traditional search the likes of google et al.

[Iberian]

I will be testing this outside shortly;









The FPV gear adds about 75 grams to the quadcopter - total weight now 425 grams. I doubt it will be quite so sporty but i';m betting it still flies ok. I will probably have to re-tune the PIDs as the centre of gravity has gone up a bit.

I am looking for a good cheap and light  ::) TX/RX for fpv. Any recomendation? I spent a lot of money in the past purely collecting stuff that I found in HK and GLB  that I';m going send to the bin (1.2GHz and 900Mhz stuff). I quite interested in your idea of the little camera.
Thanks
Tony

[teslahed]

There are better small cameras than the 808#16 available now - you want something with Wide Dynamic Range - that way you dont get blinded by sunlight and dark patches so much.

But the rest of the setup is working great so far;

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__15295__5_8g_200mw_FPV_Wireless_AV_Tx_Rx_Set.html

Hobbyking sell the video transmitter / receiver i used for £41 - then you just need some better aerials and a low pass filter.

[Iberian]

That';s better. I was looking for a camera and came across with this one :http://quadcopters.co.uk/pixim-seawolf-690tvl-fpv-camera-467-p.asp] [url]http://quadcopters.co.uk/pixim-seawolf-690tvl-fpv-camera-467-p.asp[/url] . Although a bit expensive it seems very good...the question is if it is worth the money compared to your little camera as I intend solely good daylight conditions.

[teslahed]

WDR is worth having and that looks like a nice camera. I have no idea how good it really is though.

I bought one of these;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200788570395?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

for the price it';s excellent. I am not limited by the camera quality - i';m limited by my crappy low res screen. I really need some fatsharks...

[Iberian]

Hum..good price and seems to be what I';m looking for.
Thanks

[guest325]

I bought one of these;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200788570395?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

for the price it';s excellent. I am not limited by the camera quality - i';m limited by my crappy low res screen. I really need some fatsharks...

Would this be a better bet than the 808 #16v2? At the moment I just want a camera to mount on a plane or quad to do some in flight vid';s; eventually might have a go at FPV, but want to do it on a tight budget.

[teslahed]

Would this be a better bet than the 808 #16v2? At the moment I just want a camera to mount on a plane or quad to do some in flight vid';s; eventually might have a go at FPV, but want to do it on a tight budget.

That WDR camera from security camera 2000 doesn';t record. It';s a live camera for FPVing with.

So the 808#16 is MUCH better for what you want.

[guest325]

That WDR camera from security camera 2000 doesn';t record. It';s a live camera for FPVing with.

So the 808#16 is MUCH better for what you want.

Thanks, I should have done a bit more research finding out what it did, never mind we got there!
Just one little point though, how do you mount the 808 #16?

[teslahed]

Double sided foam sticky tape does the trick. Or velcro if you want it to be removable.

You can stick some kind of gel (moongel works very well) under the camera if you need to absorb vibrations to smooth out the video.

[Balders]

Another vote for velcro.  I move mine from car dashboard, to motorbike helmet, to plane to multi, and the velcro also helps dampen out vibes/jello.

[teslahed]

I find velcro does absorb some vibrations as well - and if you need something better you just stick the velcro to the moongel and have that as part of the package.

[guest325]

Just put my order in for an 808 #16, looking forward to having a play with it!
What batteries does it use, can';t find any info?

[teslahed]

It comes with a little 1 cell lipo inside that charges from your USB connection.

[RS]

Im using these  type of cameras since 2009  and they getting better  and  better

This is  how #16 D lens would perform in a good light condition.
(i know this is not a multi rotor,sorry)

http://youtu.be/e-hdo3E0TkA

[Gaza07]

Very nice video the plane looks like a real smooth flyer, I still fly planes now and then to and have no problem with people posting non multi rotor videos on the forum   

[RS]

Very nice video the plane looks like a real smooth flyer, I still fly planes now and then to and have no problem with people posting non multi rotor videos on the forum   

Thanks.
This  one  is quite smooth and really fast plane.
Im hitting 160mph  speed  with this  one and  the camera is  fixed with double sided sticky tape

[Biffa]

Im hitting 160mph  speed  with this  one...

I thought my Radjet was quick

[guest325]

My 808 #16 came in the post today via Airmail! (How do they do it for the price?)
I know I need class 4 micro sd card but what is a sensible size to get? Thinking along the lines of 8 or 16Gb.

[teslahed]

I think an 8gb is more than enough for a whole days worth of filming. The battery will die before you run out of space.

A larger card might be useful if you were powering the camera externally and wanted to keep recording for a longer period of time - don';t think you';d need it for the quad.